Players were gobbling up iconic Pebble Beach on Thursday — conditions were perfect — soft fairways and greens, lift-clean-and-place rules, no wind — until there was wind.
Huge advantage for the early tee times and Hank Lebioda took advantage of the Monterey Peninsula Club and roasted it with an eight-under par 63 — low score of the day on all three courses in the tournament rotation.
Second-year player Chad Ramey got off to a sensational start at Pebble Beach with birdies on six of his first seven holes. Coming in he played his final 11 in just one-under par and shot 65 at Pebble, low round there.
A perfect day turned treacherous by 2:30 (Pacific time). Winds started gusting up to 25 miles per hour and one of the victims of the breezes was Will Gordon. Gordon was cruising his way around Pebble. He was eight-under through 15 holes with a great shot at taking the day on lead, or at least shooting 64. But the winds played havoc with him and he finished bogey-bogey-triple-bogey for a three-under par 69. His 18th hole misery started with a pulled drive that found the ocean left.
Pebble Beach played the easiest of the three, softened by rains the week before the tournament. Spyglass Hill played the toughest and Keith Mitchell put up the low score there — a five-under par 67.
As for Lebioda, he’s looking for his first win. “This would be eight courses in three weeks for us,” said Lebioda, who missed the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and The American Express. “Three courses in Palm Springs, two last week in San Diego and three this week. So the best thing you can do is take care of yourself, relax and make sure you’re good to go.”
Defending champion Tom Hoge played Pebble Beach on day one, as he did last year. This time he shot 71 — eight shots higher than his opening 63 in 2022 that propelled him to victory.
Jordan Spieth struggled at Spyglass but managed to finish with a one-under par 71. Viktor Hovland shot 70 at Spyglass.
The field plays all three courses, the cut will come after Saturday’s third round. Also, the low 25 amateur teams and their pros make it to Sunday.
